Farmington schools to purchase old Halliburton property on Southside River Road

• The Farmington Municipal Schools Board of Education on June 8 approved the $2.5 million purchased of the old Halliburton property at 3250 Southside River Road in Farmington.
• The funding comes from the 2017 bond election approved by voters and the sale of existing properties like old office buildings along East 20th Street.
• The old Halliburton property is about 20 acres on the western end of Southside River Road, just west of the plant operations facility and the bus depot.

FARMINGTON — The old Halliburton property on Southside River Road in Farmington will be taken over by Farmington schools as part of a $2.5 million purchase approved by the school board earlier this month.

The plant operations, transportation and possibly food service departments will relocate or expand to the 20-acre site as current facilities are aging and cramped.

The Farmington Municipal Schools Board of Education on June 8 approved the $2.5 million purchase of the old Halliburton property at 3250 Southside River Road in Farmington, according to Farmington Superintendent Gene Schmidt.

Schmidt, Chief of Operations Ted Lasiewicz and Director of Support Services Cody Diehl spoke to The Daily Times about the project.

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“What made this really attractive was the fact that it was a large enough spot where we could combine all of our operations,” Lasiewicz said. “It's not just transportation, but plant (operations), and maybe eventually even the central kitchen.”

The funding comes from the 2017 bond election approved by voters and the sale of existing properties like old office buildings along East 20th Street, according to Lasiewicz.

District officials described the purchase as a very economical purchase for an operations facility.

They likened it to the agreement Farmington schools entered into with San Juan College to purchase the old Hilcorp building on 30th Street in Farmington.

The old Halliburton property is about 20 acres on the eastern end of Southside River Road, just east of the plant operations facility and the bus depot.

The transportation department and plant operations operate at separate locations on Southside River Road.

Lasiewicz said the district is purchasing the property from a private owner, the identity of whom the district did not disclose, who purchased the property when it was auctioned off in Fall 2020.

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The San Juan County Assessor’s Office lists Caravan Star LLC as the property owner, according to its website.

“This is going to position the district well into the future,” Schmidt said.

The current plant operations facility sits on about six acres of property and the bus depot property is about four and a half acres, which makes for a cramped experience.

The properties are starting to age as the transportation department is about 40 years old.

The new property has about 33,000 square feet in the multiple structures on the property, including a 4,000-square-foot office.

The current transportation facility has about 6,800 square feet. The department will get about 23,700 of square feet to operate in the new facility.

There is only one gate for buses to enter/exit the bus depot, making it difficult for when 70 school buses leave the facility in the morning to transport students.

The new property will have three gates for traffic to enter and exit, with two of them designated for buses and one for plant operations.

It will also have more room to install more service bays to maintain the buses and fleet of district vehicles along with more training space for the bus drivers.

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Plant operations including groundskeeping and warehouse storage along with preventive and planned maintenance.

Lasiewicz did not give a timeframe for a possible relocation or expansion of the food services department.

He mentioned there is no room to expand operations of the department at the Central Kitchen facility on North Court Avenue.

Farmington schools hopes to be operating out of the new property when school starts in August and crews are currently installing network infrastructure at the site.

Superintendent Schmidt wanted to remind the community the purchase of the new property will not distract the district from planned work at the 19 schools in Farmington.

About $9 million of the $19 million Farmington schools is receiving from the American Rescue Plan will be dedicated to heating and air conditioning (HVAC) and roof work.

The district also recently finalized its facility master plan for the next several years and some funds from the 2017 bond election and a proposed November bond election will fund those renovations, Schmidt said.

Joshua Kellogg covers breaking news for The Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4627 or via email at jkellogg@daily-times.com.

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